Looking ahead to LegalTech (and now Legalweek)

January 18th, 2017

At the end of this month as many in this part of the world are still enjoying summer at the beach, I will be making my annual journey to New York for LegalTech – a journey that I have been making since 2010.

This year LegalTech as we have come to know has had some changes, or more accurately has become part of the larger Legalweek.

According to the hosts ALM, Legalweek, The Experience, is an event in which the legal industry will convene to identify and explore how business trends, the regulatory climate, economic pressures and technology advances are driving innovation and change.

Essentially LegalWeek has a wider focus for legal professionals away from just the technology, or more specifically the predominantly eDiscovery focus of LegalTech. The concurrent events include LegalExecutive, LegalCIO, LegalPros, LegalMarketing, LegalSmallFirm, and LegalWomensForum, all in addition to the traditional LegalTech.

I still go each year, as you simply cannot afford not to ! Most years I tell myself, that perhaps visiting LegalTech every second year would be sufficient.

However, so much is happening every year with how technology and innovation is impacting the practice of law. There is considerable change and disruption that is already impacting the legal profession, with so much more on the horizon.

LegalTech continues to be the largest legal technology event on the calendar. This promises to be enhanced further with Legalweek’s wider focus on technology and innovation in the business of law, together with exploring the broader issues facing the legal profession.

Regardless of the new name and new focus, for me the greatest value that I get from LegalTech is the networking opportunities. Everyone is in the one place, all the leading experts, together with technology providers. The event is a great platform to share experiences and discuss issues, whilst catching up with the latest technologies and trends.